Patel is a disgrace and snorkeling near the USS Arizona is in terrible taste and bereft of respect to the fallen.
But he is not the first government official to snorkel by the USS Arizona.
Yes he and anyone else snorkeling there should be called out as soon as it’s disclosed. Patel “swim party” was last August so his defenders will claim the press is piling on him and heaven forbid if a Democrat also snorkeled at the USS Arizona, MAGA Fascists will claim “What Aboutism”
Instead , why not pass legislation banning all forms of recreational activity at military cemeteries?
I have to agree with your Dad. My Dad would never discuss what happened in the South Pacific in WWII and at church, movies, any event, he would only sit if he could have his back against the wall and no one behind him. I have another family member who for the 50+ years I have known this person has bragged and flaunted the horrors of serving in Vietnam during the war. He has always claimed he can't even look at Asian food. It is only when he was declining physically and mentally that family seeking benefits for him discovered he had never been sent to Vietnam. Never left the States. It is hard to get over the shock of that, even though it fits the character of the person we know. So it does make it impossible to think anyone in the Bonespurs Administration would be there for a serious reason.
Patel mimics how Trump behaves. There is no sense of reverence to anything, whether it is snorkeling near the Arizona or Trump slapping his name on as much US property as he can.
My late wife's father and mother are buried at Arlington. I have been there several times, the last for her mother's funeral. It is a place of hushed tones where the tourist are in the periphery and those whose visit family graves have a private moment.
We don’t know that Patel meant no disrespect. The hallmarks of this “administration “ are: “I can do as I please” and “fuck you, make me”. Patel did as he pleased, without even a whiffle of a thought about propriety or respect
LIke Trump, Patel has little or no concept of the nature of our past or of those who, when it was necessary, fought and died to preserve the American experiment.
We learned from 2016 and 2024 that America is not mature enough to elect a woman as POTUS. Hell, women couldn't even vote in a federal election until a little more than a century ago. I see no way to avoid a second civil war. MAGA has done more destruction than a swarm of subterranean termites. My conclusion is that Kamala can't get elected unless she can grow a penis.
I could mount a credible argument against your point but peel away all of the extraneous layers and you are (quite sadly) correct.
As hindsight is always 20-20, the ideal situation we could have has was for Biden to have resigned early in 2023. The country would have had its first female president and the glass ceiling would have been broken. Going forward (at least in the immediate future), the death or resignation of a male president and the elevation of the existing female vice president looks to be the only way we'll get a female president. The country will eventually elect a woman as president, on her own merits, but that will be long after I'm gone.
Patel is a disgrace and snorkeling near the USS Arizona is in terrible taste and bereft of respect to the fallen.
But he is not the first government official to snorkel by the USS Arizona.
Yes he and anyone else snorkeling there should be called out as soon as it’s disclosed. Patel “swim party” was last August so his defenders will claim the press is piling on him and heaven forbid if a Democrat also snorkeled at the USS Arizona, MAGA Fascists will claim “What Aboutism”
Instead , why not pass legislation banning all forms of recreational activity at military cemeteries?
Great piece by General Hertling.
Mark Hertling: you handled that beautifully and respectfully.
Patel, a fraud and a drunk, mocked the sailors on the Arizona. Trump mocked the GIs still in France. Birds of a feather, disgrace.
You know we've reached a new low* when the best we can say is "well at least Patel didn't surface and throw a beer party on top of the memorial".
* don't worry, even new lower lows will be set by the administration of the Pedophile-In-Chief.
Thanks!
My father (WW2) and mother are buried at a National Cemetery on Long Island.
Dad rarely spoke of his experience as a front line soldier in the European campaign in France.
When we were at a block party when I was an adolescent, we overheard a veteran boasting of his combat experience.
Dad's response was, "Anyone who revels in the horrors of combat, probably never experienced them."
This sentiment seems to pervade the Commandante Bonespurs administration.
His sychophants glorify and create policy based on the "patriotic" action they watched in war movies.
I have to agree with your Dad. My Dad would never discuss what happened in the South Pacific in WWII and at church, movies, any event, he would only sit if he could have his back against the wall and no one behind him. I have another family member who for the 50+ years I have known this person has bragged and flaunted the horrors of serving in Vietnam during the war. He has always claimed he can't even look at Asian food. It is only when he was declining physically and mentally that family seeking benefits for him discovered he had never been sent to Vietnam. Never left the States. It is hard to get over the shock of that, even though it fits the character of the person we know. So it does make it impossible to think anyone in the Bonespurs Administration would be there for a serious reason.
Patel mimics how Trump behaves. There is no sense of reverence to anything, whether it is snorkeling near the Arizona or Trump slapping his name on as much US property as he can.
My late wife's father and mother are buried at Arlington. I have been there several times, the last for her mother's funeral. It is a place of hushed tones where the tourist are in the periphery and those whose visit family graves have a private moment.
Of course Patel is disgraceful. They all are.
We don’t know that Patel meant no disrespect. The hallmarks of this “administration “ are: “I can do as I please” and “fuck you, make me”. Patel did as he pleased, without even a whiffle of a thought about propriety or respect
LIke Trump, Patel has little or no concept of the nature of our past or of those who, when it was necessary, fought and died to preserve the American experiment.
>>What would you like to hear discussed by Bill and Rob about the piece and what’s next for Democrats? <<
Rob and Bill, it looks like Kamala will run again. What do you think her "brand" is (or should be)?
Also, do you think she will be stuck with the "she's part of the old status quo" brand, and can she overcome that?
Thank you kindly.
You seem to be on the wrong thread.
We learned from 2016 and 2024 that America is not mature enough to elect a woman as POTUS. Hell, women couldn't even vote in a federal election until a little more than a century ago. I see no way to avoid a second civil war. MAGA has done more destruction than a swarm of subterranean termites. My conclusion is that Kamala can't get elected unless she can grow a penis.
I could mount a credible argument against your point but peel away all of the extraneous layers and you are (quite sadly) correct.
As hindsight is always 20-20, the ideal situation we could have has was for Biden to have resigned early in 2023. The country would have had its first female president and the glass ceiling would have been broken. Going forward (at least in the immediate future), the death or resignation of a male president and the elevation of the existing female vice president looks to be the only way we'll get a female president. The country will eventually elect a woman as president, on her own merits, but that will be long after I'm gone.